The continued story of Commander John Sheppard
by Johnnyvin
Summary: The Reaper wars have ended, and John Shepard has survived along with his friends he must escape the nightmare's of his past and find a way to live in a galaxy that no longer needs a saviour.
1. Chapter 1

**First ever story of done, but thinking of making it a long hauler basically story of Shepard after the reaper war it's not strictly cannon I've mixed a few things up but tried to keep it true as possible as I know mass effect fan's may come after me, but I've tried to do a game I love justice. I hope you enjoy this and please any tips ideas will be most ****appreciated **

* * *

"so those are my options?" spoke Shepard disconnected as if he was speaking to no one at all

"Yes, if you wish to save this cycle those are the only options before you" spoke the child like ghost who had called himself the catalyst  
Shepard stood atop the citadel as three beams of light pulsated before him one blue, one green and one red. he clutched his side as he chuckled to himself thinking towards the last few months before the collector base.

"after all this, the illusive man was right" he said in between grimaces of pain and laughter

"yes, but he could not of saved this cycle he was too far indoctrinated" spoke the boy with a neutral tone not caring if it was the illusive man who had made it this far.

The boy had explained the options before him and he stood there, in ever military fashion assessing the situation. Control over the reapers he could send them away to some far corner of the universe, Destruction destroying every piece of reaper tech within the known universe including the Geth and EDI or synthesis which would unite organics and synthetics throughout the galaxy. The choice he though was all to clear.

"Peace..." he said softly clutching his side as blood trickled through his fingers "... is all I ever wanted since the beginning of this nightmare" as he looked out towards space "Whatever the cost" he mumbled to himself

He turned to face the ghostly apparition "thank you" he said smiling

"For what" for the first time the ghost looked confused at this statement

"For giving us a chance" as he smiled and began the walk forwards. The ghostly apparition gave a faint smile and faded away

* * *

BACK ON EARTH

The night sky lit up as the fight continued tracer rounds and explosions littered the landscape as the galaxy's warriors made one last push. It was a sight to behold former enemies, disputes that had lasted hundreds of years were now pushed aside as they tackled this deadliest of foe's the reapers, together.

"Come on you pyjack's!" as Wrex stood atop a mound of fallen husks rallying near by troops as the reaper forces descended on them firing his claymore into the hordes of the reapers.

"careful old man, you look tired" as a young krogan moved forward blasting away a group of husks who had tried to approach an unaware group of salarians.

Wrex roared with laughter still firing "Grunt! still here i see though that brute had you on the ropes back there you little pyjack" he shouted looking down at the the young krogan.

Grunt lapsed in shooting and turned to face the old warlord and laughed in a low growl.

* * *

"Get down!" as Jacob grabbed Miranda's arm and pulled her to the floor as the concrete pillar they were behind exploded showering them in rubble

"Thanks Mr Taylor"

"any time ma'am" he smiled as a surge of friendly troops surge to there cover a mixture of alliance and asari commando's and whole range of other races. An alliance trooper crept forward trying to stay in cover

"Just received word from command, Shepard made it to the citadel!" he shouted over the rain of fire which was almost deafening. Miranda and Jacob looked at each other

"Holy shit" they said in unison

"We have to hold on" as Jacob turned to address the rabble of warriors before him

"You all hear that, Shepard's on the citadel" A few whispers and glances were exchanged between the men and women before him "We hold this line, it ends here! With us!" he yelled with such authority Miranda was taken aback. As everyone looked towards him with sheer determination in there eyes this was it the breaking point as they all got up, Jacob stood fist raised looked towards the enemy "FOR SHEPARD!"

* * *

He walked slowly his wounds eased with every step his heart rate lowered, he thought of everything his crew, his friends, his family. Shepard edged himself towards the middle beam as it shone with a green light that was brighter than anything he had ever seen yet he looked towards it as somehow it didn't hurt his stood at the precipice and looked into the light and closed his eyes he saw images of his friends Kaiden, Mordin and Thane he had missed his friends so much it was almost unbearable thinking about them. Then his thoughts lay on another. "Liara" he whispered as he pictured her smiling at him and he smiled back her image felt so real and a single tear fell from his eye. "forgive me" as he fell into the light and was then engulfed in darkness.

* * *

He felt water lapping at his feet and warmth all around him, his eyes fluttered and he sat up to look at his surroundings, he was on a beach the water lapping against his feet was the sea incredibly blue and stretched for miles and miles, the sky was brighter than any summer's day on any planet he had seen yet he could see no sun that gave of this brilliant light and warmth, and the sand was so white he though he lay on a beach of pearl's.

"Shepard" came a familiar voice behind him

He turned and saw Thane in font of him "Thane!?" he shouted as he approached his friend as they embraced. They let go and Shepard looked at him with happiness in his eye's.

"My friend" he whispered holding back tears.

"Shepard listen to me" thane spoke softly yet with urgency "this is not the end" Shepard looked up at him with confusion in his eye's

"It is not your time" he smiled with a hand on Shepard shoulder "you are being sent back"

"what do you mean?" said Shepard almost scared because he did not understand any of what was going on.

"you have some friends waiting for you, but not here " Thane spoke still smiling

As Shepard felt himself being pulled slowly towards the sea, "Thane! please!" he yelled but stopped as two figures appeared beside him who then came as clear as day.

kaiden and mordin smiled at one another over the shoulder of thane and then towards their commander. Shepard felt calm as he saw them in awe as he felt himself still being pulled back. Suddenly he felt a pain in his side as he looked down to see a bullet hole appear and blood beginning to fall more cuts appeared and the further he was pulled the more pain crying in agony just as he though he could take no more he fell backwards into the sea.

* * *

6 hours previously

The Normandy was on it way back to alliance space and the earth they had crashed on an unknown world when they had lost power but it was only a spike and within a few hours they were able to repair some damage made to the drive core and were able to leave. They were fully aware that the reapers had been destroyed, as they had left the sol system via the FTL drive they saw the citadel emit a big green light before the citadel began exploding, they did not know the extent of the damage but it looked bad then. Garrus and James had had to hold onto Liara as she wept uncontrollably shaking with rage and grief. She was asleep now on the observation deck with Tali, Kasumi and Ashley. No alcohol was drank no wild party's the crew sat around still coming to terms with the belief that Shepard had perished.

"He wouldn't want us to be like this" Joker said as the rest of the crew sat in and around the pilots seat

"We know Joker" spoke garrus softly "I just can't..." he was unable to finish and got up and left no one had seen Garrus like this but they all understood what he must be feeling, because they all felt it too.

"Shepard is a hard bastard, I'm sure he made it" Zaeed spoke more to try and reassure himself than anyone else as the rest of them sat there in silence

"Coming up on London, gunna set it down near were Hackett currently stationed"

* * *

Hackett stood with grunt, wrex, Samara, Jack, Jacob and Miranda inside a makeshift office he had set up along with other alliance personal who were now trying to see over the rebuild and clean up of the city. The Reapers had moved into the space over earth just lying there as the ground reaper forces had been killed whilst some remained on the big dreadnoughts currently floating lifeless in space.

"so what now?" jack spoke breaking the silence in the office

"we get round to rebuilding, clean up" sighed a tired Hackett the last months of coordinating defences clearly taking it's toll on him. " Wrex, can i count on some help from the krogan?"

"consider it done, lets just hope they keep there manners" mainly aiming the statement and grunt who chuckled under his breath.  
At that moment a prime unit walked into the room as a few of them turned a little on edge as there new found ally's still gave some of the veterans an uneasy feeling.

"Can I help you?" asked an inquisitive Admiral

"Admiral, other Geth platforms have begun clean up operations of this city" it began

"looks like the tin can's came in handy after all" smiled Wrex

"We also-" it was cut off as a marine popped his head in the door

"Admiral the Normandy just landed there on comm's" forgetting he was in a conversation with the prime he pressed a few buttons on his omni tool

"go ahead Normandy"

"just arrived 2 clicks from your position sir, all crew members are fine and the ship's appears to be in working order" came spectre Williams

"good to hear Normandy, glad you're home"

"Admiral" the prime platform tried to reach the admirals ears but failed

"ill send some techs over to you Normandy make sure everything running smooth"

"thank you sir, there was on more thing sir" came an almost hesitant Williams through the comm speaker

"Admiral" said the prime unit trying again to no avail

Hackett knew what was coming and he braced him self for the question "go ahead Normandy"

"Admiral" the primes voice had gotten louder but fell short of deaf ear's

"is there any new's on Shepard?" came the blunt question over the comm's

the were a deadly silence in the room the group looked to the floor everyone knew what news Hackett was about to give and they hated it and they braced themselves reaction over the comm's

"the commander is currently MIA" sighed the admiral "though it is believed he is KI..." he was cut short as large metal hand slammed against the table and everyone looked up to see the prime unit had approached them and its hand had gone almost through the table as it's now green eye looked directly at Hackett as the admiral looked up and the plates in the primes unit's head shifted before slowing and a low electronic voice uttered

"We have found commander Shepard"

* * *

**i loved the idea about thane and femshep and him talking about waiting across the sea for her so i like put it into a friends aspect insead. like i said this is me loosing my fan fiction virginity so take it easy, peace**


	2. Chapter 2

"Whoa, slow down, where do you think you are going?" cried a doctor as garrus, Tali and liara turned a corner and nearly ran into the terrified doctor

"Shepard, where?" cried liara breathing heavily

"up those stairs second door on you right" he had barely finished his sentence before they had taken of bounding up the flight of stairs in front on them.

A few others were already waiting outside the room with an out of breath Dr Michel trying to answer as many question as possible as she received a tirade of shouts and yells towards her

"Hey!" shouted garrus quieting the crowd "she's on our side remember" almost laughing as he said it his mood had brightened considerably since he had heard the news of Shepard being alive.

"what the deal doc?" turning his attention towards a flustered Dr Michel trying to compose herself

"well Sheppard was dropped of an hour ago by two prime units he has extensive burns encompassing most of his body he's broken almost every bone in his body and he has some internal bleeding" as she finished she looked towards them all realising maybe telling the entire truth was not the kindest thing but it was the right thing

"So?" cried Jack "all we care is can you save him?" she yelled as she glowed blue before Cortez but a hand on her shoulder which seemed to calm her down

"It's going to be hard but this is Shepard it's not like him to give up, as soon as I know something you'll know something" as she opened the door and moved into a room full of doctors and other medical personal examining Shepard's body. After a few moments the other left walking away slightly reassured by Dr Michel's words leaving Liara and garrus still standing there staring into the room. As Garrus slowly turned to look at Liara

"Liara he'll get through this, spirits he's survived so much i mean odd's are on our side" he said trying to comfort her and himself even if he didn't know it.

Liara still staring into the room and Shepard's broken body turned to Garrus tears in her eye's "I can't loose him Garrus, after everything we went through" as she lent against the turian who wasn't sure what to do.

"Liara wait for him I've got to see the primarch about turian support in the clean up, and I'm sure the shadow broker can go dark for a while"  
She smiled faintly at him turning back towards the room to gaze on Shepard as the medical staff began to file out all of them keeping the gaze away from the concerned duo

"you can wait with him if you'd like" came the voice of Dr Michele as she tried to give a reassuring look "we've done all we can, it's just a waiting game know"

"Thank you" Liara spoke softly before entering the room gazing upon Shepard's body before pulling a chair close the side of the bed. Her hand moved towards his as she paused briefly before setting her hand on his and holding on tightly.  
Garrus sighed "look after her Chloe" before turning and making his way out of the make shift hospital.

* * *

_**A few hours later**_

"you do know this is going to take forever" exclaimed Ashley as she stood in one of the many ruined streets in London looking upon all the debris that had fallen and had now blanketed the city's of earth

"I don't know, what with the krogan helping you pyjack's we should be done in no time" came a rather happy Wrex

"well it beats fighting reapers" retorted James

"give me some reapers any day" as grunt looked at the floor kicking a large piece of rubble away

"come on guys sort out some squads and get this show on the road" as Ashley had just finished a shadow appeared over them as a reaper floated towards them as soldiers shouting at each other, running towards cover aiming towards the enormous creature descending on them

"well you asked for it grunt!" shouted James

The reaper landed and remained still as everywhere soldiers crouched behind cover waiting for the nightmare to begin all over again. But before anyone could get a round off the reaper began walking methodically using arms that had once picked up the different races on colonised words of to become their indoctrinated forces, to now instead sweep down and pick up the rubble that was stricken across the city. Everyone stood dumbfounded as more reapers descended and began their slow careful march clearing the area and as comm chatter increased it appeared this was happening all over earth, it even appeared as though they were taking care were they were treading as if not to cause any more damage to city's which they had been so hell-bent on destroying  
as thousands of soldiers lowered there weapons mouths open agape at what they were beholding James finally broke the silence

"Shepard is not going to believe this"

* * *

_**3 days later **_

silence had gripped earth for the past 3 days as the reapers cleaned up nearly the entire planet before returning to the space above earth, many theory's had flown around but what everyone did agree on is that it would seem the reapers were no longer such a threat.

As Liara sat by Shepard her head resting on the bed next to Shepard's arm her hand still holding his, she thought of all things that had led up to this the citadel coup, Tuchanka, Rannoch everything, all the way back to beginning. All those moments with Shepard from the fluttering of her heart to the feeling of utter despair when she thought she'd lost him and now it seemed she was to relive the nightmare again.

"we've come this far John" as she stoked his limp hand "all we've been through it can't end here, life can't be this cruel" she whispered trying not to cry again.

"you promised me little blue children" she smiled

Liara almost didn't even notice Shepard's hand slowly hold on to her's and for a moment she sat there with her head on the bed, only to sit bolt upright and stare into his face.  
through cracked eye's Shepard look into her eye's and croaked " I don't break promises"  
Liara's happiness was too much to contain as she flung her self on to him only to retreat as she realised how much pain he may be in, looking at him with as she let tears of happiness fall on to his chest.

"I thought id lost you!" she cried squeezing his hand with both of hers unwilling to let go. As Shepard slowly with a grimace sat up.

"I was never leaving you" he smiled as Liara blushed whilst barely containing her happiness

"I came back Liara, so whatever happens you're stuck with me" and before she could say anything else he pulled her gently into him and kissed her.

* * *

"shit, Shepard you were always the ugly one" as a smug, yet slightly relieved Garrus walked into Shepard's room

"well hell, vakarian I was walking towards a bright light but then I realised I had to come back and kick your ass" as Shepard sat up in bed and Liara gave him a playful smack

"yea well, I wouldn't want to hit a cripple" he smiled a towards his friend "it's damn fine to see you up Shepard"

"well maybe not 'up' but getting there" as he repositioned himself with a pain look creep across his face

"we have much to tell you commander" came the sound of EDI as she Joker, Ashley, Wrex and Tali entered the room. All beaming with smiles as they looked towards their friend and leader whom they had previously thought dead only a few short days ago.

"Shit Shepard, hope you like reapers" came a snort from Wrex

"Hell maybe he could keep a reaper as a pet" chimed in Garrus causing a few to laugh

"wait no one's told him?" came Joker over the group

laughing to himself Shepard eased his friends worry  
"guy's come on I know what happened, after all I chose it" his laughter increased as he turned to see everyone staring at him open-mouthed.


End file.
